This is important because many young people are being taken advantage of through these types of apprenticeships that require no skis to lean and can be completed in as short as time as two months. There are companies who are keeping individuals on for longer to earn the funding and gain cheep or free labour. This is unfair and unjust because these apprenticeships are meant to teach you new skills and offer you a chance at progressing. These types of apprenticeships give you next to none of those. This is what happened during my apprenticeship. My original tutor was let go because they entered into an agreement to keep me there for over a year so the company could earn the funding as they were struggle with money, I was told this by my new tutor. I was on three pounds per hour for nearly six months, being told they would promote me to a supervisor position because of my hard work and dedication. This never happened, there was no progression and I learned nothing new about the customer service industry. After my apprenticeship had ended I felt a lack of confidence in myself due to the amount I had been exploited in my place of work. After seeing a documentary two years later I learnt the horrid truth of the sheer amount of companies that set up these apprenticeship schemes, taking full advantage of young, vulnerable individuals. I feel that these types of action should are going against the purpose of apprenticeship schemes. These schemes are are being used against young people, lowering their confidence, prolonging training to enhance profits whilst maintaining false promises. The skills in a customer service role such as retail, hospitality and administration take weeks to learn not a full year. Please let us only allow apprenticeships that can develope young people into supervisors, managers or teach them a trade whilst nurturing their confidence and knowledge.

Too many childrens lives and educations are being ruined by the lack of diagnosis or lengthy waiting lists. Causing them anxiety and long term problems as well as a lack of reasonable education. My son displayed all the signs of autism in primary school with constant meltdowns and yet was always excluded this has continued into secondary school. After being rejected three times by CAHMS he finally has an autistic diagnosis (scoring high on the spectrum). This has come in year 9 which has caused him to miss years of education struggling in mainstream schooling and multiple exclusions as well as a conviction for me and a hefty fine (for his poor attendance) after being taken to court by the same council that failed my son for so many years!

Cambridge City Council made a commitment to a fossil free future in October 2015, pledging to end investment in fossil fuels and carbon-heavy buildings. This was done with cross-party supported and formed part of a global movement for divestment from harmful fossil fuels. http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Landmark-pledges-sees-Cambridge-City-Council/story-28044516-detail/story.html Around the same time, the executive councillor for Finance and Strategy agreed to a deal with the Eastern Procurement Purchasing Organisation to take over energy supply to the council. At this point, the opportunity to make a deal with suppliers who deal exclusively in renewable energy was lost. However, there will still be a chance for the executive councillor to choose between a 100% renewables tariff and a non-renewables tariff, before the deal is finalised. It's worth noting that all suppliers are obliged to provide around 30% of their energy from renewable sources under the Renewables Obligation rules, but most of the major suppliers charge extra for this energy anyway. http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/domestic/buying-green-electricity Cambridge City Council currently consumes approximately 10,000,000 kWh of gas and approximately 8,000,000 kWh of electricity per annum. This equates to around £260,000 for gas and £1,000,000 for electricity on the current contract. Finally, the current executive councillor for Finance and Resources is standing down in May, so there is certain to be a new councillor in this role who comes to the role with the freedom to change things. The incumbent has shown little appetite for environmental concerns, claiming for example that a target of going zero-carbon by 2050 was ambitious when it is a bare minimum under the terms of the COP21 agreement in Paris. The new executive may be open to persuasion and a strong petition on this particular matter will help.

This is a rare occasion where the public has enthusiastically showed interest in a national science project. The name, although sniffed at by some, would undoubtedly help to engage a new generation of scientists and the general public in the important research undertaken by the boat. Let's get some fun, as well as democracy, back into science.

This little school serves a very rural Teesdale area. The children mostly come from isolated farms and communities. If the school was to close, as planned, many children would not get to school at all in the winter. The next nearest school is in Weardale. The route to the next dale is often impassable in winter. We mustn't let down these children You never know...one of them might be the one who discovers the cure, or answer to, a life changing disease currently plaguing our society!

Sex education can teach respectful attitudes and values - including consent and communication skills, help pupils be more informed about violence and exploitation and explore sex as a regular fact of life. Significantly in our changing world, sex education can help pupils understand on- and offline safety. From an increasingly young age, children are accessing disturbing and abusive sexual imagery online. However hard parents try to put the right controls in place, they need a helping hand from schools. Numerous polls have found there's overwhelming parental support for compulsory sex education. Sex and relationship education won’t stop abusers preying on children. It won’t stop pre-pubescent boys watching hardcore porn. But it might help children become more ready for the world: by helping them to keep themselves safe online and off-, to be able to put inappropriate material in context, and to have a fair crack at understanding sex and relationships (to the extent that any of us do).

Queens Park is a community friendly park located in Glasgow's southside. It is used and loved by families, dog walkers, nature enthusiasts and children on a daily basis. Surrounded by schools and several diverse neighbourhoods this park is the heart of these communities. The most recent attack on a young woman is hugely upsetting and potentially, avoidable. In June 2016, I met with Glasgow City Council officials as a result of this campaign at that time. Their answer was 'no' to lighting for the park. This latest incident is one of a series of attacks over the years. Yet in Glasgow Green - 2 miles or so away- there is night time lighting that helps more people using the park feel safer. As anyone in Scotland will attest the days can be short and daylight scarce. Avoiding a community park after dark is not always an option. These incidences and attacks could be reduced or eliminated by proper lighting on footpaths and major thoroughfares crossing the park. I have created this petition to ask Glasgow City Council to install PROPER and sufficient lighting on these routes to fully light these paths and effectively increase the safety of everyone using Queen's Park.

British Red Cross is eager to sell our Knutsford War Memorial to McCarthy & Stone, which has stated it will sign the final document as soon as it has Cheshire East Council permission to DEMOLISH our Knutsford War Memorial. In the centre of commemorations for those who lost their lives during the Great War, our Community's Knutsford War Memorial, is being put up for sale for DEMOLITION, by the British Red Cross, which documents seem to show, was paid £275,000 to move in during 1995. (Yes that transaction is the wrong way round. We should all hope to buy our homes in such a way) British Red Cross has, I understand, not paid rent for that property during the subsequent 22 years. Nor has it paid any money to buy it. In any case it was not for sale. Some time ago (6/7 years?) it removed the (NHS agreed?) elderly day services and the nursery. The Community of this area has certainly NOT agreed - and not been consulted - about this proposed taking for demolition of its own community property. Knutsford War Memorial - our community-built-and-paid-for, war memorial - needs to be returned into the hands of the community which raised the funds pay for it.. and subsequently to extend it, for use of the local community. No Secretary of State for Health - nor any of his subsequent NHS Agents - had the right to take our War Memorial. Its all in the title - 'Health'. There was - on the other hand - a duty, when they ran our hospital, to preserve our War Memorial and to allow ongoing access to our War Memorial.. until it was returned, fully, to the hands of this Community in and around Knutsford. This Community has never been approached nor has it agreed to sell our War Memorial, which is the physical recognition by this Community of our war - and other - losses over the last century of wars.

A "secret shopper" is a person used by watchdog groups to measure the staff's agreement with rules as well as the quality of service. My experience of signing-on at my local jobcentre for the last couple of months has been awful. I am often called "lad" despite being older than many of the staff. I was angrily told "I can guess what people like you think" when explaining my difficulties in not finding a new job yet. The staff have shouted, sighed, tutted and shaken their heads at me. I have been wrongly told to come in for an appointment - then been told to come back the next day because I was mis-advised. All without any apology. Most, if not all, major shops employ so-called secret shoppers. For instance, secret shoppers at a restaurant may pretend they are lactose-intolerant, or a clothing store mystery shopper could ask about gift wrapping services. Not all secret shopping reports include a purchase. If you have been to the jobcentre recently you will notice that it now looks and feels more like a drop-in centre. It is full of despairing people, hopeless lives trying to get out from under. The jobcentre is a difficult environment to cope with for the best of us these days but particularly for the vulnerable in society. As a result of the punitive and unreasonable measures by successive governments, most of the vulnerable people in society are unemployed and they are on the verge of becoming homeless and suicidal. We must educate jobcentre staff who bully claimants. The tone is rude, unprofessional and angry. Many of my visits to the jobcentre were counterproductive. At Tesco or Asda if staff were rude to a customer, they would be warned, disciplined or face the sack! We need to teach staff the correct methods to respond to the general public, in a professional manner. This is why we need to hold the jobcentre staff to account.

It is stressful for people to have to drive around, for example with a sick relative, or going to work, going for treatment or trying to visit a loved one. Imagine how you feel if you are a grandmother, taking your grandchild to hospital after he/she sustains a painful injury only to find yourself looking for a parking space for 40 minutes. You find a space but have a twenty minute walk, carrying one child, another child in hand. You have a long wait for treatment then get two fretful children back to your car. It has been bashed, and you have a parking ticket. Yes, this really did happen. The effects of that experience stayed with the grandmother for days after the event. Imagine taking a loved one for exhausting radiotherapy. You drive round and round. You and your loved one end up with stress over and above the anticipatory stress about the treatment. This happens at every visit. Imagine trying to get to work. You cannot car share. You have children and carers to drop off/pick up before your shift starts. You get a parking space eventually, you rush a fifteen minute walk before your shift begins, but find the inevitable parking ticket at the end of your shift. People do not live simple hassle free lives in today's world. These example do not fit with government policy in relation to exercise, or reducing pollution. These situation do not harmonise with policy to improve well-being. We need action now.

We cannot have animals being sold on social network sites alongside second hand furniture, we must know where our animals have come from, any illnesses, who their parents are, and make sure animals aren't bought and sold for sport. There is no history regarding these poor animals, and no checks in place to make sure the people buying them are capable of looking after these animals. Barring these poor animals from Gumtree & all marketplace websites would make it so much harder for people to abuse these sites to sell ill animals, or to gain access to animals to use as bait or for sport.

In an allegation of assault or aggravated burglary the witnesses and victims do not currently have automatic anonymity and therefore put themselves at extreme risk of retribution from the family and friends of the perpetrators of the crime who may decide to take the law into their own hands. The law as it stands provides no real incentive for people to do their civic duty. Giving evidence from a remote location would avoid innocent witnesses and victims having to endure the fear and real danger posed by visiting a courtroom where the perpetrators of the crime and their family and friends are present - this should be an automatic right rather than a privilege. The principle of open justice can act as a bar to successful prosecutions because of the natural fear a witness may have in the case of a gun or knife or other violent crime so if the default position in these cases was changed to one where the Police and or CPS should have to apply for open proceedings rather than the existing system where the onus is upon the witness to declare their fear then potentially more people would be willing to testify. Safety aside, the impact on the long term wellbeing of victims of violent crimes and their families in crimes of this type may not be fully understood and certainly may be underestimated. The CPS guidance on this matter talks of the police establishing whether a witness is in fear, yet this may only become apparent once the proceedings are in train and may be exacerbated by the behaviour of the defendants and their families and contacts during the proceedings. In instances like this, it is too late to offer protection – the names of the witnesses have already been disclosed; the witnesses may well have been seen by defendants, their families and associates, because of the poor design of many Courts. The ECHR should serve everyone; the current system seems to favour the protection of one group at the expense of the other. Victims of violent crime have already suffered at the hands of their perpetrators. The purpose of a court of law is to establish whether a crime has been committed and whether those accused were indeed the perpetrators and we, rightly in my view, have a presumption of innocence until guilt is proved but I am not sure how an innocent man or woman would be disadvantaged if they didn’t know the names of the witnesses but relied upon their counsel to interrogate a witness via , for example, a live link to a remote location with the witnesses behind a screen thus serving the purposes of justice and the protection of the innocent.